If you can believe (see link below and click-through for story), that Mr. Shawnacy Barber, world champion pole vaulter, who hired the services of a prostitute while in Edmonton, could not tell that the lady had consumed alcohol or not, or that she was high on cocaine, then you can believe that through the simple act of kissing he took in enough of her cocaine to test positive himself.

How unfortunate.

Then you will also believe that coincidentally this cocaine-sniffing and boozing-up (as she admits) lady of the night, was out on the “job” for the very first time. Yes. First time ever.

Then you may also be convinced that Mr. Barber did not give her money. She or her boyfriend drove her over to his hotel, snorted up (potentially hundreds of dollars worth of) cocaine and drank a 26er of booze to have a 30-minute tryst with an anonymous person for absolutely no charge. She’s a goodwill ambassador! Welcome to Edmonton.

He went on to compete in the National Track and Field Championships that took place in Edmonton this summer, followed by the Rio Olympic Games. Interestingly, Athletics Canada new of the positive test for cocaine, but still sent him to the Rio Olympics. Meanwhile there was more than one athlete who performed at or better than the Olympic standard, but did not recruit cocaine-sniffing sex-trade volunteers, yet were still left off the team.

As the charismatic Pierre Elliot Trudeau once said, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”

Is cocaine a performance enhancer? If not, he should not be stripped, see, he already did that and who knows if the 30-minute performance was an “enhanced”.

I wonder how he managed to get a hold of the “W” lady and “M” man to haul their sorry carcasses into court? He’s a sweet talker, I bet.

From Athletics Canada:

“I want to thank the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada for the expedited work they did on my case and their professional handling of the case from start to finish. I am obviously satisfied with the result of the hearing where I was found to have Zero Fault. I am happy to have this behind me so that I can move on with my career with a free conscience. At no time during my actions, did I even fathom the possibility of being able to be contaminated with cocaine. This is a learning experience that I hope other athletes can learn from as I have. I want to thank my support staff and most of all my fans that have supported me through the years and I hope will continue to do so.”

-Shawn Barber

Athletics Canada statement

First and foremost, Athletics Canada is pleased to see the system works, CCES and the anti-doping program are important pillars in ensuring clean and fair sport. The positive finding in this case was found to be of no fault of the athlete. We are thankful that the proper procedures recognized the presence of a prohibited substance, but also in ensuring due process to the athlete in coming to a fair and reasonable decision.

As per the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada ruling (full decision available at below link); “A review and consideration of the evidence presented by the parties in this matter lead the Panel to conclude that the Athlete has satisfied the burden of establishing, on a balance of probability, that he bears no fault or negligence in committing a violation…”.

This has been a learning experience for Shawn, he is a young athlete learning how to compete on the field of play, and prepare away from it. As per the ruling Shawn will forfeit his Canadian title and Championship record established on July 9 at the Canadian Track and Field Championships.